Abstract:Objective To investigate the aerobic plate count and somatic cell count of raw milk in China, and analyze how the factors of breeding patterns and breeding areas influence the aerobic plate count and somatic cell count of raw milk. Methods Statistic of aerobic plate count of 17 527 raw milk samples and somatic cell count of 6 633 raw milk samples were collected, during 12 consecutive months from 2014 to 2015 in 17 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions). The Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test was applied to analyze how the factors of breeding patterns and breeding areas influence aerobic plate count and somatic cell count by SPSS 19.0 software. Results The average aerobic plate count of raw milk in China was 3.27×105 CFU/ml.The average somatic cell count of raw milk in China was 4.60×105/ml.The median of aerobic plate count of raw milk produced in large-scale dairy farms, farming communities and household farmers were 1.00×105, 1.85×105 and 2.37×105 CFU/ml respectively. The medians of somatic cell count of raw milk produced in large-scale dairy farms, farming communities and household farmers were 3.50×105,7.30×105 and 5.91×105 /ml respectively. The medians of aerobic plate count of raw milk produced in the northeast China and Inner Mongolia, the north, the south, periphery of big cities, the west were 2.40×105,1.43×105,1.50×105,1.60×105 and 2.14×105 CFU/ml respectively, and the median of somatic cell count were 5.72×105,3.30×105,3.82×105,5.60×105 and 4.00×105/ml respectively. Conclusion The aerobic plate count of over 99% of raw milk in China met the requirement of the national standards.There was room for improvement of aerobic plate count limit in safety standards. The aerobic plate count and somatic cell count of raw milk produced in large-scale dairy farms were lower than those of other breeding patterns.
